


Blind Date

by BookofOdym



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Blind Date, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 13:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16662263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym
Summary: Two speedsters try to set their Lantern friends up on a date. Alan is going to have strong words with them.





	Blind Date

“Barry,” Hal said, right as he was measuring the benefits of wearing the plain green tie versus the joke gift that Tom had gotten him a few years before, he decided that it fitted him more to wear the one that was covered in a plane pattern. “I’m not sure if this is such a good idea.”

Barry poked his head around the bathroom door. “You’ve been moping since your last boyfriend-”

“Rick.” Hal supplied, although he’d never gotten the sense that Barry had wholly approved of that particular dating choice.

“Right, you’ve been moping since the colonel left town, what is it with you and superior officers anyway?”

Hal wasn’t quite sure either, so he bit back. “It’s the bottom energy.”

Barry suddenly appeared next to him, stopping him from picking up his flight jacket. The way Barry held it probably meant he was going to get it dry cleaned in the next few hours. “Seriously? A- I mean… your date isn’t going to like it if you show up in that.”

Hal groaned, picking up the suit jacket instead. “Who is this, anyway? Everything you’ve said about this person makes them sound like Bruce, which, thanks for finding me a sugar daddy, but what am I gonna talk about on a date with Bruce?”

“Not Bruce, he’d kill me,” Barry hissed, appearing horrified by the very suggestion.

“Hm, Mister Terrific then, or maybe Arthur?” Except when he thought about it, Arthur was even more likely to kill Barry for setting him up with Hal than Bruce was, every second he was around Hal his desire to declare war on the surface world visibly increased, and as for Mister Terrific… you couldn’t really say that a man who bedazzled his jackets with the words “Fair Play” was that fashion conscious.

Alan, at that exact same moment, was being even more difficult than Hal was (if that was even possible) and was refusing to put down his work. Jay knew that he controlled a quarter of the communications industry and liked to keep on top of all the work that entailed, but this was ridiculous.

“Alan, get your butt in gear, you don’t want to keep your date waiting,” Jay was flitting all around him, grabbing clothes from the next room and showing them to Alan. Alan, who was barely paying attention, would end up being forced into pink leopard print if he wasn’t careful.

“Don’t I? Tell me, Jay, you set me up with this person, don’t tell me who they are, smile at me every time I ask. Which means you think this match is funny. Why don’t I want to keep them waiting?”

Jay groaned, Alan may not have had the willpower of a member of the corps, but he was extraordinarily stubborn. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to have to call in Barry’s help. “Because, Alan, every night of the week you sit at your desk, working. You only leave to work with the JSA. You barely talk to your kids. Can you try to have fun? For one night?”

“Fun?” Alan said the word like it was foreign to him.”

“Fun other than settling down with a classic book in bed. I know you.”

Alan narrowed his eyes at him. “For one night.”

It was probably for his own comfort, but Jay had apparently set him up in the expensive French restaurant that had opened in Gotham about twenty years previously. The menu had stayed the same, and he had often taken the Speedster out to dinner when they had both been free, usually after a celebration of the JSA.

His eyes met a familiar pair of blue eyes, the eyes of the second Flash, Barry Allen, and he stepped up to him.

“Are you meant to be my date?” He asked the man, and Barry responded by waving his arms in a panic.

“N-No! I was just here for… in case you didn’t show?” In case he didn’t show? Why would anyone need to be here in case he didn’t show? If his date was going to be particularly emotionally vulnerable, he was going to have problems here.

He sighed, going into the restaurant, and immediately turned to walk back out. Unfortunately, Jay was standing on the other side of the door, shaking his head at him.

Every part of Alan was now wishing that he hadn’t agreed to this date, he supposed that he should have suspected what was going on when he saw Barry Allen milling around at the front of the restaurant, but his brain hadn’t quite managed to make the connection.

“No way,” he mouthed, knowing that sound wouldn’t be able to travel through the glass. The man on the other side only smiled at him.

“Have fun,” Jay mouthed, giving him an obnoxious little wave.

He cleared his throat as he approached the table, hoping that Hal wouldn’t recognize the anger on his face. It wasn’t Hal’s fault, he doubted that he’d been told who he would be meeting. He wouldn’t have agreed had he known. Together they could probably think of a way out of this.

Hal’s head shot up, and his eyes widened at the sight of the other Lantern. “Was thinking they’d actually tricked Arthur. I was getting ready for a fight.”

If Alan didn’t know better, he’d think that Hal was actually happy to see him, if only because he wasn’t getting stabbed through the stomach with a trident. Okay, he thought, this didn’t have to be a date, it could just be a nice dinner with his successor, who looked like he hadn’t eaten in days.

With a sigh, he decided to sit down opposite Hal. That was when he saw it.

“What are you wearing?” He asked, staring in horror at the monstrosity of a tie that Hal was wearing, patterned with planes of various colors.

Hal glanced downwards before offering him what would have looked like a shy smile if Alan hadn’t known that was impossible. “Barry bought me a new suit.”

Alan somehow managed to resist the urge to smack his own forehead with his hand. Seriously though, did that mean that Hal was willing to go to a fancy restaurant in just jeans and a flight jacket?

What a troublesome successor.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by the speed at which Hal could put away alcohol, but by the time they had reached dessert Hal had put away six glasses of rum and coke and was getting remarkably chatty.

Well, that was if “chatty” could be read as “totally shit-faced.”

“Hey, Alan?” Hal said through a mouthful of raspberry charlotte cake. “Wanna fuck?”

A few heads turned to face them, and Alan should tell him off for it, but instead, he decided to finish his own bite before responding. “Something tells me that you’re too drunk for that.”

“What does?!” Mercifully Hal continued voicing his train of thought, so Alan didn’t have to explain just how obvious it was that Hal was drunk. “I was just thinking, you haven’t really gotten anything out of tonight, so I could…”

“Offer up your ass in place of any real conversational skills?” It was maybe a little too blunt, but Hal nodded along anyway. “You weren’t doing that badly before your fourth glass.”

That was when the conversation had been more about work. Public places weren’t such a good dating idea for superheroes, but they’d made it work with metaphors.

“In any case,” Alan dropped his hand down so that he could squeeze the other Green Lantern’s own. “I should get you home.”

Hal got up, pressing into Alan’s side in a move that was apparently to keep himself from falling over, and linked their arms while Alan took care of the bill.

“Jay!” He snapped as they left the restaurant, but apparently, both of the speedsters had vanished ages ago, probably before Hal had even started drinking. They could have gotten out of there hours before if only Alan had noticed.

He groaned, pulling Hal along as he walked. He supposed he had to take him back to his own home then.


End file.
